A major scaffolding collapse injured six construction workers Friday afternoon and the moment it happened was caught by a tourist and recorded on a cell phone camera.
Construction tradesmen were hard at work on an apartment complex near Minute Maid Park in Houston when an entire building side of scaffolding collapsed, trapping 6 workers in the rubble. That moment was caught on tape in an exclusive video, which was shared on twitter by KHOU’s Jacqueline Crea and you can watch below:
EXCLUSIVE video of scaffolding collapse shot by German man in town with a Houston tour guide company. #HouNews pic.twitter.com/pLMRFY6kWC
— Jacqueline Crea (@KHOUJackie) October 16, 2015A cloud of dust was created by the falling scaffold and moments later, surrounding workers ran to the scene to help out. Three minutes later, according to KHOU, the Houston Fire Department was on the scene searching for the victims. All six of the workers trapped in the scaffolding were rescued and taken to the nearby Memorial Hermann Hospital. None had life threatening injuries, but several sustained broken bones, cuts and bruises.
OSHA will be conducting an official review of the collapse, but KHOU also talked to a construction safety expert in the Houston area about the collapse. Richard Jessup’s first inclination was to point his finger at a nearby boom lift that was underneath a mound of scaffolding. The reasons why can be found in KHOU’s article here.
We’ll update everyone with OSHA’s official report when it is released.
Below is KHOU’s official news report about the accident:
Last summer, Hilti announced that they had developed their first exoskeleton designed for construction tradespeople in a partnership with Ottobuck, a prosthetics, orthotics, and exoskeleton provider. Earlier this month, Hilti officially released the exoskeleton, announced more details, and published its retail price on their website.